Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative

Transcription

1 Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative March 2018 INTRODUCTION This is the first monthly factsheet for the Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI). The JMMI has been launched by REACH in collaboration with the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster and Cash and Market Working Group (CMWG) to support humanitarian actors and with the objective of harmonizing price monitoring among all cash actors in Yemen. The JMMI will incorporate information on market systems including price levels and supply chains. The basket of goods to be assessed comprises eight Non-Food Item (NFI) products, including fuel, and hygiene products, reflecting programmatic areas of the WASH Cluster. METHODOLOGY Data collection for the first round of the JMMI took place between the 21 and 27 March Enumerators from seven partner organisations collected data in 29 districts across 11 governorates, through Key Informant (KI) interviews. The sample of vendors was selected from markets of various sizes in both urban and rural areas. The data collected has been analysed in comparison with the price quotations recorded during the Multi-Agency Joint Cash Study in September 2017 and previous Weekly Price Monitoring Initiative, which began during the economic blockade of Yemen in November Findings of this analysis will be presented in the form of both this factsheet and a supplementary dataset, published on a monthly basis. KEY FINDINGS PRICE MONITORING OVERVIEW Price levels of the basket of goods have decreased and stabilised following the end of the economic blockade imposed in November Nevertheless, as of March 2018, price levels for all goods remain above the baseline prices recorded in September Price and diesel prices are generally more consistent than other prices across all governorates assessed, with a variance of 17% between the highest and lowest median fuel prices calculated per governorate. While hygiene price levels were generally stable, Al Jawf recorded the highest prices for soap and laundry powder, with price levels 143% and 39% above the respective national medians. Price inflation remains the primary challenge cited by vendor KIs across all districts assessed, as was the case in September 2017, while concerns of instability and insecurity, and liquidity shortages, were highlighted by vendor KIs in some areas of the country. MONTHLY FIGURES 7 Participating partners 29 Districts assessed 164 Vendors surveyed EXCHANGE RATES 1 US Dollar (USD) is equivalent to 250 Yemeni Riyal (YER) Source: XE.com SUPPLY OVERVIEW Al Hudaydah and Marib remain the primary supply points for fuel vendors in the north west of Yemen, while vendors for and hygiene products generally source their products from suppliers within their own governorate. Vendor KIs in Amanat Al Asimah and Sana a noted the longest restocking times for fuel, requiring at least 11 days to restock petrol or diesel items. Vendor KIs in Al Hudaydah consistently recorded some of the lowest average price quotations and restocking times across all product groups, which is likely due to the proximity to a major port. Despite a shift in the line of conflict, fuel vendor KIs in Al Dhale e continue to have some of the shortest restocking times in Yemen, as was the case in September Restocking times for and hygiene products were more consistent than fuel. Vendor KIs in Ibb had the shortest restocking time, stating they could restock within one day. PARTNERS CYF LFD Old City SDF ROC YFCA ASSESSED DISTRICTS Petrol Diesel ASSESSED ITEMS Water trucking Treated Bottled Laundry powder Sanitary napkins

2 PRICE MONITORING OVERVIEW FOR YEMEN MEDIAN PRICE PER GOVERNORATE (IN YER) Governorate Petrol (1L) Diesel (1L) Sanitary napkins (10 Units) Treated (20L) Bottled (0.75L) (1 Unit) Laundry powder (100g) Water trucking (1m 3 ) Al Dhale'e NA Al Hudaydah ,000 Al Jawf NA ,100 Al Mahwit ,550 Amanat Al Asimah Dhamar ,750 Hajjah ,500 Ibb ,000 Sa'ada ,250 Sana'a NA NA Taizz NA ,333 Note: red indicates the highest median price; and green the lowest. MEDIAN PRICE PER ITEM SINCE SEPTEMBER 2017 (IN YER) Item September (baseline) October November December January February March Changes (March/Sept) in % Diesel 235 NA Petrol 275 NA Treated NA NA NA Bottled 70 NA NA NA NA Sanitary napkins 250 NA NA NA NA Laundry powder 50 NA NA NA Water trucking 825 NA Data recorded in September 2017 for the Inter-Agency Joint Cash Study was used as the baseline for this analysis. The table above illustrates the rise in price levels observed during the economic blockade in November last year. While prices stabilised and then decreased over the past three months, price levels have not returned to the pre-blockade levels. DISTRIBUTION OF PRICES ACROSS GOVERNORATES 2 Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI), March 2018

3 Petrol Prices 3 Water Trucking Prices

4 SUPPLY OVERVIEW FOR YEMEN AVERAGE RESTOCKING TIME REPORTED (DAYS) Governorate Diesel Petrol Bottled Treated Sanitary napkins Al Dhale'e Al Hudaydah Al Jawf N/A 2 Al Mahwit Amanat Al Asimah Dhamar N/A Hajjah Ibb N/A N/A Sa'ada Sana'a N/A Taizz N/A Laundry powder Petrol and Diesel main supply chains in assessed districts OVERVIEW FOR WATER TRUCKING 67% of interviewed trucking vendors stated that they charged additional delivery costs based upon the distance between the source and delivery point. 73% of trucking vendors stated that they sell non-chlorinated. The median distance from the source to the point of delivery for the assessed vendor KIs was 7 km. The median capacity (in cubic meters) of the primary truck operated by the vendor KIs was 6m 3. Proportion of vendor KIs reporting sourcing from each type of source: 94% from a pumping station or a borehole and 6% from spring. Proportion of vendor KIs who acquired their from privately owned or publicly owned sources: A76% 22% 2% Privately owned Publicly owned Mixed CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES Respondents were asked to state which challenges they were currently facing in buying and selling their products. The figures below represent the proportion of vendor KIs who stated that they were facing each challenge: Price inflation Liquidity shortage Transportation issues Insecurity and instability Supply shortage Shortage of demand Government regulations Other Other challenges mentioned include a decline of market functions and instability of prices over time 7088% 4252% 2737% 2232% 2131% 1828% 1017% 1424% 4

5 APPENDIX WHAT IS THE INTERSECTOR CASH AND MARKET WORKING GROUP? With the emerging crisis in 2014, the humanitarian actors in Yemen started using cash and vouchers as a response tool to meet the immediate needs of the Yemeni population. The CMWG was established to provide a platform for discussion and setting standards/recommendations on cash and market-based responses (inclusive of cash and vouchers) for the people in need in Yemen. REACH and the CMWG have worked together on joint assessments since the Inter-Agency Joint Cash Study published in December ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON METHODOLOGY To be included in the Yemen Market Monitoring Initiative, markets must be either a single permanent market, or a local community where multiple shops are located in close proximity to one another. Where possible, markets are selected when there is at least one wholesaler operating in the market and there are enough shops located in the market to provide a minimum of three price quotations per product. Participating organisations train their enumerators on the Market Monitoring methodology and data collection tools using standard training materials developed by REACH. Each month, enumerators conduct key informant interviews with market vendors to collect price quotations for each product from a minimum of two markets, from which a median price is identified. Two separate data collection tools are used within the JMMI framework. The general tool is used for all products, except for trucking which has a separate tool tailored to the unique market mechanisms of the product. For the general tool, enumerators record the location and type of market before obtaining price quotations. In addition to price levels, vendors are asked to state the current availability of the product in their local area, the location of their supplier, the number of days it takes to restock the product in their local area, and the constraints which they are facing in purchasing and retailing the item in question. The trucking tool has additional questions, to gauge the impact of delivery distance upon price level. Following data collection, REACH compiles and cleans all partners data, normalising prices and cross-checking outliers. The cleaned data is then analysed by commodity and by governorate. Prices are divided into quartiles and boxplots are created to help CMWG members understand the distribution of prices. To illustrate local variations in prices and availability, REACH uses the collected data to map the price of each type of item in each district. The cleaned data sets are available on the REACH Resource Centre and are distributed to all participating partners, as well as to interested clusters and the broader humanitarian community. LIMITATIONS Due to issues of access and security across Yemen, the districts included in the JMMI will vary on a monthly basis, and as such there are a limited number of districts for which trends can be assessed over time. Governorate level data is composed of the respective districts assessed in a given month, and so the findings are not representative of markets in all areas of the governorate. Finally, the market monitoring process has been coordinated remotely by REACH, which inherently presents further challenges in terms of enumerator training, consistent communication and verification of results which are harder to resolve from afar. CALCULATION OF MEDIAN CHEAPEST PRICE The aggregated median price table is calculated by taking the median of the minimum-reported prices of a governorate s districts. In turn, the minimumreported prices for each district are calculated from the average of the minimum reported prices of the constituent markets assessed. HOW TO READ A BOXPLOT Maximum price median in dataset (YER) Upper quartile: 25% of rice medians are above this point Overall median price Change in overall median since last month (YER) ABOUT REACH REACH is a joint initiative that facilitates the development of information tools and products that enhance the capacity of aid actors to make evidence-based decisions in emergency, recovery and development contexts. By doing so, REACH contributes to ensuring that communities affected by emergencies receive the support they need. All REACH activities are conducted in support to and within the framework of inter-agency aid coordination mechanisms. For more information, please visit our website at contact us directly at yemen@reach-initiative.org or follow us on Twitter 2. REACH, Inter-agency Joint Cash Study: Market Functionality and Community Perception of Cash Based Assistance. December 2017 (link : Lower quartile: 25% of price medians are below this point Minimum price median in dataset (YER)